Post trip: what I packed, forgot and didn’t need

With any trip you go on there is always the question “What do I bring?” that needs to be answered. On top of that, how do I get all my stuff to fit into my bag?

I did some searching online about things one should bring on a month long trip to England. What I found wasn’t all that helpful. So, I was kinda on my own when it came to what to bring. When I was packing I kept in mind the idea that I would be tossing things away to make room for purchases while I was on the trip.

What I packed:

Six pairs of jeans

five T-shirts

two tank tops

one long sleeve shirt (casual)

one nicer shirt for going out

one pair of sweats

one pair of PJs

A hoodie

seven pairs of under clothes

ten pairs of socks

a change of tennis shoes

shower shoes

a wind breaker

a travel blanket

hat and gloves

two books for fun

two guide books

two hard cover notebooks, three pens, a pencil and eraser

textbook for class back in the states

laptop

Ipad

Ipod

camera

adapter

Bathroom items

travel backpack

All of this fit either in the checked luggage, the rolly carry on or in my smaller day pack. To get all the items to fit I used the rolling method the most. When packing a suitcases you can either fold or roll your clothes. It’s your preference, so I rolled mine. With the roll method you can play tetras with your items to get them to fit. The following video showed how you might fold your clothes.

I had gotten the idea to roll my clothes from a youtube videos about packing for boot-camp. But the video above works just as well.

For the most part I put all my clothes in the checked luggage, leaving one shirt and change of under clothes for my carry on. Bathroom items also went in the checked luggage. Filling in the last of the space was the blanket, shoes, notebooks and text book. In the wheeled carry on I had again one change of clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste,and medicine. It was my backpack that I had all my technology in. Because of security it was easier to have the tech in the backpack because it was an easy out easy in situation. No one likes that travel who is taking forever going through security because they don’t know how to pack properly.

Now looking back I can see what I didn’t need to bring with me. I’m also really glad that my parents stopped me from bring my crafts with me. I wouldn’t have had time to do them even if I had brought them.

What I didn’t need:

The hard cover Notebooks

Textbook for class back home

The guide books, I would have kept the maps though

One fun book

half of the jeans

the sweatpants

the shirt for going out

contacts

make up

Between exploring England, classes and writing here on Survivingfreetime, I didn’t have time or enough ideas to write stories. Same story with that text book. I think I said before, why would I study for a class that’s half way around the world and not relevant to what I was studying right then? With the second fun book, I didn’t have time to crack it open. It would have been safer if I had left it on my shelf at home. I didn’t wear the sweat pant and I only went out once, not a good enough reason to bring the dressed up shirt.

Ok, all good points, but you had talked about throwing things away… what did you toss?

This might be a bit backwards but, for under clothes I specifically packed items that had done their time and could be “retired.” Bras I kept, but panties and socks were fair game. For tossed bathroom items I threw away:

sliver of soap

razor

comb

dead packages of purchased medicine

toothbrush

toothpaste

All of this didn’t make a big dent in the end weight of my suitcase but I like to think it helped a little.

So pack things that can be thrown as a safeguard against going over the weight limit. Now, what do you wish you could have brought?

Camera battery!!! if nothing else, another stupid battery for my camera! To be honest I think that’s the only thing I wished I had brought with me. Maybe I would have liked to bring an adapter that had been three prong capable but the one that I bought there worked good enough. Oh, one more thing… washcloths. Sure I got used to washing without them but if you are opposed to ‘new ways of washing” you might want to bring some. Ok, I lied, one more thing: a vitamin of some kind. I might have gotten sick if I had taken a mulit along for the trip.

Not sure if this helped anyone any but it at least killed a little time right?

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3 thoughts on “Post trip: what I packed, forgot and didn’t need”

Whoa, six jeans must have weighed a ton! I would have picked one pair blue jeans, one pair black jeans, and a regular pair of pants. I also would have brought a pair of waterproof shoes instead of a spare set of tennis shoes.
I don’t know if you could get your text book as an e-book, but that would have saved an enormous amount of weight. Guidebooks are also available as e-books. I have both the Kindle app and the Stanza app for e-books. Goodreader is great app for storing paper copies of reservations etc. Just make a PDF of the reservation and then send it to Goodreader.

I don’t know about a ton, but the jeans did take up some weight. Next time I go on a trip I’ll remember your tip about 1 blue, 1 black and a comfy pair. Unfortunately my text book didn’t come in an e-reader form, thankfully my other text books did. I might have to check this “Goodreader” out.